Catamarans represent a popular type of small sailing craft. They are not intended to be left in the water when not in use. Normally, they are pulled from the water for storage. The storage of catamarans is something of a problem. In the existing catamarans, the mast and sail are easily removed. However, the two hulls, front and rear cross-members and the trampoline are not easily or quickly disassembled for storage. In the assembled condition, a catamaran even without its mast occupies considerable space. The difficulty in disassembly of the hulls, cross-members and trampoline is due to several construction features found in most commercially available catamarans. The primary difficulty is due to the manner of attachment of the trampoline to the hulls and one or both cross-members which typically involves a series of ropes or cables which are interlaced between islets in the edges of the trampoline. This arrangement is quite time consuming to take apart and re-assemble.
In another aspect, prior catamarans have a horizontal cross bar running between the two tiller arms with mechanical or hinged connections. This construction is not readily adapted to being taken apart and re-assembled.
Examples of some approaches to making catamarans more easily assembled can be found in Krolczyk U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,411, Edder U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,366, Chang U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,555, Gallichah U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,498, Robertson U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,717, Guergen U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,548, Stover U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,756 and McMillen WO88/08804.
The present invention presents a novel catamaran construction which is easy to break down into its components for compact storage which also being simple and quick to set up and make ready for sailing.